SanDisk Extreme PRO SSD Poised To Level Up PC Gaming

It has been a year and a day since SanDisk unveiled its Extreme II SSD. Now, at Computex once more, the flash storage manufacturer is announcing the evolution of this solid state storage device, the Extreme PRO, a drive that it is selling to be the drive for hardcore PC gaming, graphics-intensive applications, and serious multimedia work.

Gamers would primarily obsess over CPU, GPU, and RAM, but once those are well satisfied, the next bottleneck to address becomes the data storage. Drive read and write speeds are essential in loading apps and games faster, swapping out game assets from file to RAM, and even in just simply booting up the PC. Of the data storage technologies available to conumsers, SSDs are the fastest, but also the most expensive. SanDisk wants to capitalize on that as well as the PC gaming resurgence by providing gamers with a top of the line storage solution.

SanDisk says that the Extreme PRO builds on the success and lessons of the Extreme II, and in a way that shows, aside from the similar branding used, of course. The Extreme II boasted read speeds of 550 megabytes per second (MB/s) and writes speeds of 510 MB/s. In reality, the Extreme PRO doesn't really stray too far ahead, with 550 MB/s read and 520 MB/s write speeds. The improvement might seem inconsequential in raw numbers, but, considering the laws of physics, that is still quite an achievement. Of course, the true litmus test will be when the SSD is slapped into gaming rig and put through some rigorous use.

The SanDisk Extreme PRO SSD will start selling this month and, as with the Extreme II, will be available in an assortment of storage capacities and prices. At the lowest level, you have a 240 GB unit that will cost $189. There is also one with a 480 GB capacity at almost double the price at $369. And finally, the biggest and most expensive option almost reaches 1 TB, with the 960 GB variant that come with a $599 price tag. All of these will come with a 10-year limited warranty, double that of the Extreme II, at least in supported regions.